How About Now?
by stormy003
Summary: Henry and Willow has made a bet with each other. The bet? Who can make one another show the opposite expression they always displayed first. Everyone knows that Willow shows a sullen expression everyday while Henry is always pulling off a grin. Now the two black mages have gotten curious to why that is.
1. Chapter 1

No one has ever seen a corruptedly depressed woman smile before, not when a joke has been told or when she has been asked to. Just why is that? It sounds odd since even Tharja would smile and laugh once in a while; a mischievously devious one that is.

"Willow, are you happy right now?" Henry asked, releasing the breath he's been holding in for the past few seconds.

The cotton pink haired woman looked over with a blank stare, curious about the man's sudden question. It wasn't odd that he asked since he always has something random to say.

"I am. Why do you ask?" the woman replied, barely audible.

"You never seem to smile, that's all!" he replied with a chuckle. "You're so emotionless that even a risen can out do you in a grinning competition!"

Willow blinked through her long bangs that covered more than half the center of her face and continued to stare. Henry's usual grin grew wider as he held up his hands and balled it up, point his index fingers at the corners of his turned up mouth.

"Come on, just a little grin unless you're afraid the crows will come attack you for your bright smile~."

In response to his act, Willow looked away and closed her red and gold eyes, her veil covered backside facing towards the smiling man.

"Boringggg!~"

"Henry, have you ever... changed your smile before?" she suddenly asked carefully.

"Hm? Nahhhhh! Why would I change my face expression for especially when it's not needed?" Henry cackled. "You're funny!"

Willow then turned around and reached out her partially covered arms, grabbing his face and stretching it around as he continued to laugh.

"Fhallen fhor me alreaey? We're mohning thoo fhasht, yahahahahaha!" he teased through stretched cheeks. "Angrwy that I didn't prwoposh?"

"I know you actually aren't really smiling, so you can stop it around me."

She then released her hold on his face and folded her hands together, resting it in her lap. Henry was still laughing though this time his black and gold gloved hand was up to his jaw a little.

"Again, this is my real face expression. You overthink too much!" he exclaimed, giving her a quick pat on the shoulder. "What about you, eh? You don't smile at all!"

"... I have no reason to smile..." she replied calmly.

However, no matter how calm she sounded, her eyebrows were slightly furrowed, her hands shook as they gripped tightly, and her lips tightened. Henry noticed and decided to point it out thoughtlessly.

"Uh-oh! Did I strike a nerve, nyahahaha!"

The woman didn't answer as she stood up from her spot on the ground next to the well-known sadistic dark mage. Of course he knew she didn't like him poking at her business. The man grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down in which she landed with a soft thud on him.

"Whoops!" he giggled. "Hey, how about we make a deal?"

Henry released his grip around her wrist and held her by the shoulders, pushing her up to see his face. Her hair covered her eyes though, so she couldn't see anything in front of her.

"You can find a way to get me to stop smiling and I'll find a way for the opposite, for you to smile. Well, it's a deal!" he exclaimed.

"But I didn't agree to anything...!" Willow said as he laughed and brushed her hair the wrong way.

"It's already official! No take backs!"

The female dark mage silently sighed to herself as her hair fell back down on her face again after being blown, causing her ally to laugh again.

"Hey, Willow, have you see-"

Henry and Willow looked up over at the second tactician in the team who decided to cut herself off awkwardly.

"Oh... I must've- ahem- disturbed you both.." Lillian coughed as she nervously blushed at their position.

Henry was slightly leaning back, a hand propped on the floor to hold his position with Willow on him, her hand on his chest and the other on the floor to keep herself up. The man's free hand was resting on Willow's shoulder as her hair begins to unbind itself.

"Not at all! Nyahahaha!" Henry laughed.

'I didn't do this on purpose...' Willow mumbled as she stood back up.

Of course, the playful dark mage pulled her back down again and started to laugh some more, hoping for her to react and laugh herself.

"H-Henry... Mind stopping?" she said instead, disappointing the man.

"Yeah, yeah fineeeeee!~" he slurred, letting her go.

Lillian gave a nervous laugh as Robin entered the tent behind her.

"Have they seen him?" the cream haired man asked.

"I didn't even get to ask," replied the purple-blue haired tactician.

Robin smiled sheepishly at his fellow tactician, not really wanting her to grow mad of anything.

"Have you both seen Lon'qu?" Robin asked. "It was a mistake asking Lillian to approach him, but hey, he needs to get used to it sooner or later..."

"A mistake.. Right.." commented the shorter woman.

"Not that kind of way. You know what I mean."

Willow gave a shrug as she passed the two to see if maybe the man they were looking for was in hiding near her tent and just making a great escape at the moment.

"Nope! Been in here since a good thirty-five minutes or so!" Henry reported.

"Ah, alright then. Thank you," answered Robin. "And Henry?"

"Yep, yep?"

"Good luck getting the girl."

"Alrighty, Captain!"

The female tactician chuckled as she slapped his cloaked arm lightly with Willow blankly staring at the man.

"Robin, good luck surviving the night," Willow responded blandly, her eyes darting over to someone behind him.

He knew what that meant.

"Robin, I think you should go..." Lillian told the man.

Henry continued to laugh uncontrollably as Tharja peered in the tent, a mix of jealousy and starstruck.

"I'll stick to you like glue just to be safe..." he replied.

"I'm not your shield," replied the woman who left the tent.

Tharja jumped and cautiously stared at Lillian when the woman exited the tent, her eyes sharpening. Well that was until she suddenly smiled and opened her mouth to say something.

"He's all yours."

Leaving the woman wide-eye and hopeful, Lillian no longer looked back at the group as she continued her search for Lon'qu.

"Lillian! Wait, don't leave me with- with- ..." Robin exclaimed, anxiously cutting himself off as he looked at Tharja a little appalled. 'With Tharja...'

"Oh Robin...~" she cooed, sending shivers down his spine.

The raven haired woman slowly took a step forward over at Robin's direction, causing him to take a step back and clear out his throat. He was quick on his feet to think up an excuse and leave her immediately with the other two dark mages watching.

"I'm sorry, but I got to go help Chrom with his plans now. I'd love to hang out sometimes, not really, but now is not the time at all," he said quickly. "Alright then, bye!"

And with that, the man took off in the direction of his plan devising partner and began to look for her instead of for the swordsman they were both seeking out for. Tharja's smirking face fell back into a grimace as she watched him leave once again turning around to see Henry holding in a laugh as best as he could and Willow giving an apologetic look.

"What?" the woman asked, frowning at the two.

"Nothing...~" they both said in unison, Henry sounding more jolly than Willow.

"Well, whatever it is that you two clowns are thinking about, you better wipe those looks off your face," growled Tharja. "Unless you want me to cast a curse on you."

"Oh, a curse? Pick me! I'm totally ready for a tryout!" Henry exclaimed childishly as his hand shot up into the air.

Willow sighed as she grabbed his arm and pulled it back down anxiously. The man laughed as he began to rock back and forth excitedly, waiting for Tharja to make her move.

"Ho? So you want to test out my new curse? I've been meaning to look for a test subject anyways," the woman said with a smirk. "I rather test it on Willow there. Knowing you, Henry, you'll just disband it the moment I cast it onto you. Don't blame me for killing you though, woman."

"I never agreed to anything?" questioned Willow innocently.

"Well too bad..."

"I wouldn't want you to cast it onto her anyways," the man suddenly jumped in. "She's never liked the idea of how us dark mages create our spells, nyahahaha!"

Tharja rolled her eyes in response as she turned around and sauntered out the tent to continue stalking her one and only Robin. She actually liked Willow for minding her own business and keeping quiet all the time, but she's just never showed it.

"You know, you're a little too innocent to be a dark mage," Henry said. "You need to learn how to like to kill off little birds to create new hexes and curses!"

"I can live without taking the lives of other creatures..." she murmured, letting go of his arm. "And please don't volunteer yourself as tribute to get hurt or something. It's not fun getting hurt."

"Fun? But it's a great feeling you should enjoy!"

At this point, the woman had no other words for Henry and just gave him a weird look. How is pain good and when has it ever been a good thing to experience in life? It's always occurring on the battlefield and their lives are always flashing before them; it's actually quite a scary thing to experience yet Henry seems to love it so much. It was going to be a hard task for Willow to get him to stop smiling and change it into anger or hurt. On the other hand, it was going to be easier for Henry to get the woman to smile instead.

"... So when will we start?" she asked, looking at the mage next to her.

"Hm? Start what?" he replied, completely forgotten his own deal he created.

"You are to stop smiling and I am to smile," she shortened up.

"Ohhhhhh! That! Nyahahahaha!" he laughed. "Tomorrow, of course! I knew you'd accept the deal!"

'More like you forced me into it...'

"What was that?"

"It wasn't anything of importance."

Henry then stood up and began to brush himself off, offering his hand to the woman seated on the ground.

"It officially starts tomorrow. Good luck finding a way to make me cringe or something!" he said as he pulled Willow up to her feet.

"Yeah, okay... Have fun making me laugh then I guess..."

"Let me ask a question first..." began the man. "Is it hard to make you laugh?"

Willow looked at him blankly and blinked, remaining quiet for a minute.

"I don't know? I don't believe so..." she replied cautiously.

"Then this should be an easy win for me!" Henry exclaimed.

The woman rose a brow blankly as she stared at the smiling man questioningly.

"Easy win...? Is it that hard to get you to frown or something?" she asked.

"... I don't know, nyahahahahaha!"

Willow gave the man a weird look before she quickly walk around to get behind him and push him out of her tent.

"Henry, please leave now. It's about time I start looking up for new spells I could practice with on Risens..."

"Okey-dokey!" Henry chimed.

However, his legs weren't even picking themselves up or even budging as she struggled to force him out of the small makeshift building.

"And no casting dangerous hexes on anyone in camp this time! You nearly killed someone the last time you tried!" Willow grunted as she got him to the exit.

"Did I? Oh, I totally did! That was awesome! Though I did feel bad for whoever it was; I don't even remember who it was..." he said.

"It was Kellam..."

The man curiously looked over his shoulder and gave a confused smile to the woman shorter than he was.

"Who's that again?" he asked, earning a silent sigh.

* * *

 **Willow and Lillian belong to me! I think this is the last story I'll spam xDD Phew...**

 **~stormy003**


	2. Chapter 2

"It's finally day one! We'll begin the challenge now!" Henry declared, laughing his silly little laugh afterwards.

The woman wasn't really looking forward to what the man was planning to do to her and decided it was best to keep a good distance away from him by immediately walking away from his space after his speech. On the other hand, Henry thought it was an even better idea to stick with her at all times when possible as she walked away.

"I don't see why you'll have to stick so close to me..." Willow commented as Henry walked beside her, his arms resting behind his back.

"How else would I make you smile?" questioned the man who began to suspiciously widen up his grin, showing his excitement. "Got you something..."

He then revealed a pile of black feathers which were most likely from crows sitting in his hands softly he has been hiding behind himself. Willow blinked as she registered what it was in her brain within just a mere second and then frowned.

"Please don't tell me you killed another crow for THIS instead of something important..." stated the disappointed woman.

"Maybe I did, nyahahaha," laughed Henry." Come on, you're a dark mage, Willow, and that means tons and tons of killing! Ooooh hoohoohooo... I can see all that crimson liquid dying the land and bodies red..."

Willow growled and immediately left the sadistic pale man in black to fantasize for himself, but that wasn't the case when he kept following her with the crow feathers.

"Willow, want me to revive the bird? I mean, it'll still be a zombie, but it's still revived," he called.

"It's already dead, damn it. You don't need to go screwing around to let it suffer and kill it a second time."

Henry was smiling as always. His expression just wouldn't change, but he was slightly guilty about what he did, especially since he already knew what her reaction was like. Though then again, he wasn't actually thinking twice.

"Please, Henry, dispose of those feathers somewhere..." she requested in a displeased tone.

"Aye aye, missy!" he said as he marched off to look for a peaceful looking spot.

I mean that IS what she meant by dispose, right? Leaving it somewhere far away from its own corpse, far away from a battlefield, far away from possible enemies and risens. Actually, no one would know since she said "dispose" when she is usually telling Henry to not mistreat a single thing, dead or alive.

"Hmmmm, would a risen's ripped off limb work?" he questioned himself curiously. "Nahhhh!"

Willow wanted to see the man lose his trademark smile for once as well, but she already knew that if she got mad at him at a little thing such as that, he would laugh it right off and continue to smile, fake or not. But for now, she needed to stay away.

"Willow! It's disposed of!" he called as he ran back to her.

"What is with this noisy screeching..?" Maribelle commented irritably.

However, no matter how disgusted she sounded, she meant no offense to anyone around her.

"Henry, was that you? Please, show some manners around here! No one needs a screaming banshee roaming around camp!" scolded the blonde woman.

Of course he ends up laughing at such comment which caused the ladies to sigh.

"I'm sorry, it's my responsibility," Willow apologized, bowing down to Maribelle.

The noble immediately reacted and pried her to stand back up in which she didn't. Henry felt quite uncomfortable since she's always going around apologizing for everyone especially for his trouble, stopping his smile for a quick second. Nobody caught it luckily for him.

"Willow, dear, don't you worry too much. You're not at fault!" Maribelle told her, trying to pull her back up.

"She's right, Willow. Come on, it's just for a little fun!" Henry chuckled loudly, pulling her up to him. "Sorry about that, Maribelle!"

"It's fine, but please do keep your voice down sometimes," she said, smiling at Willow. "You don't have to go out of your way to apologize for anyone. They need to learn to do it themselves."

Willow blinked and nodded silently as she looked up at Henry who only grinned cheekily.

"I guess... It became a bad habit since back then.." she commented apologetically as she looked at Maribelle.

"Oh, well I can help you with that, dear! Don't you worry too much; Lady Maribelle here will be of assistance when you need it!"

"Well not today, woman! She's sticking with me for today, nyahahaha!" Henry laughed.

"Henry, please keep your grubby blood obsessed hands to yourself!" Maribelle warned as she eyed where he was holding the quiet female dark mage.

"Hm?" hummed the man who looked at where he grabbed Willow.

Slightly opening his usually smiling eyes to reveal unknown colored eyes- was it black? Was it brown? No one actually knew, but it was quite mesmerizing for the women who usually never see them- the man looked down to see that he was resting it at her hip.

"Whoopsiees!~ My bad, hahaha!" he snickered, closing back his eyes and pulling his hand away. "My hand just happened to land there!"

"Do watch where you touch a woman especially if you aren't together," Maribelle scolded as Willow awkwardly looked away.

"You got it!" Henry exclaimed, saluting to the leaving pink figure.

Silence over took the two dark mages again until Henry chimed in once more.

"Want a risen's arm?"

"... No..!" Willow replied in a disturbed manner as she left.

"Aw... How about a hex? A curse? Blood! Someone dead?" he listed.

"No, Henry...!" said the cringing woman. "Nothing that deals with death, please...!"

Thinking that he was now a complete bother instead of a company to the woman, he remained quite the rest of the way over to the camp's training grounds to pick up the tome she left back when she took off from Frederick's harsh workout. Now humming to himself, Henry thought of other methods to get her to smile. However, there was something that bothered him just a tad bit... Did she like him? Or was he just a nuisance? Not like he cared or so he thought, but it was just to satisfy his curiosity.

'I won't say a word...' he thought to himself, covering up his curiosity with his smile and jolly sounding hum.

'His mood hasn't changed yet and all I've been doing is ignoring or scolding him.. What else should I do...? I don't want to hurt him...' Willow thought, softening her frown.

"Whatcha thinking about?" the sadistic man asked innocently.

"Nothing important."

"Are you going to train?"

"I'm picking up my tome I dropped on the field while on the run from... Frederick..." she said with a shudder.

"Oh, him.." Henry said, looking away to hide his uncomfortable expression.

"Are you, perhaps, hiding a frown?" Willow asked, smiling not quite noticeably.

"Nope! Just your imagination, nyahahahaha!" laughed the mage who secretly returned to cringing in anxiety.

Willow decided to take a look to see whether he was lying or not, but as what she could identify from the way he's acting, he was lying. The woman stopped smiling and took a large step around to see his face though he turned away and continued to laugh.

"Are we playing a game now?" he asked as they continued to turn in a full circle until Willow grew dizzy.

"Whoa... My head is spinning!" Henry sighed contently.

"That's... not a good.. thing..." Willow told him as she swayed a little and fell.

"Really?" asked the man who shook his head like a dog and looked at her.

Apparently, she looked tired and very dizzy from chasing Henry for his expression as if a dog was chasing its tail. Sighing with a smile on his face, Henry quickly took off to retrieve the book she dropped on the training grounds without being noticed by the captain of the field, Frederick himself, and returned for Willow who was now struggling to stand.

"Let's gooooo!" he exclaimed, scooping her up as he shot past the area and back to the tents.

"H-Henry, careful!" she yelled after being bounced carefully and comfortably into his arms.

"Isn't this fun?" he asked, laughing a bit right after.

"I don't know how to reply to whatever you deem to be fun!" she whined, grabbing onto his arm and shirt tightly.

"Wheeeeeheeheehee!" he said, careful not to drop the woman. "Come on! Smile!"

'Why don't you smile? Your smile is not even real!' she exclaimed in his body.

"Talking nonsense againnnnnn!~"

'I'm not!'

Stopping by the tents and setting her back down on her feet, the woman felt light headed and stumbled around and back onto Henry who openly allowed her to fall back into his arms.

"Tired already? Man, you need to have some more fun and build up your stamina! Need a hex to fix this problem up briefly? he asked.

"I'm okay..." she replied in an unstable tone, holding onto his arms that are wrapped around her loosely. "Please refrain... from troubling me and yourself..."

"You need to stop assuming things about me, missy!" Henry scolded jokingly. "I really am having fun!"

Willow sighed and stood back up with the help of the man who still hasn't let go of her just yet.

"If you say so.. But it still isn't very convincing..."

Willow then staggered off and took off the decorative circulet around her head to get herself comfortable again. Of course both dark mages weren't very successful with their first day, but they didn't want to admit defeat just yet either. Especially Henry. Not at all did he want to give up without a simple fight. It's just making her smile, so how bad could it be? According to his afterthought of his not so brilliant idea, it turned out to be a little harder than he first thought it'd be.

"What if I did this?" he asked himself out loud as he jogged up to Willow and wore on her circulet, the veil falling behind his head gracefully as he picked up the woman.

Willow, caught surprised, looked at him with her wide, slightly bugging out eyes.

"Lookie here, Willow! Your prince-cough princess- in not so shining armor!" he announced proudly. "Heyyyy, this crown thingy is very comfortable...! I feel like royalty!"

Willow mentally giggled and held in a smile as best as she could until she could no longer do so. Quickly burying her face into his shirt, she cracked a tiny smile and calmed down to look back up at him.

"Did I make you smile yet?" Henry asked with a cheeky grin.

"No," she denied.

"Aww... I thought I got you this time.." he whined. "A great steed I'll be then! Another round of running, here we go!"

"Eh?" Willow said as he took off with her again for another quick lap around camp. "Ahh!"

"Don't worry, I won't drop you or your circulet!" he assured her, the headpiece bouncing around loosely on his head. "Well that's if I can't help it... Nyahahaha!"

Chrom and Lillian were watching the two make a mad dash and gave each other an anxious looking smile, pitying the female mage.

"Looks like they're having fun," Chrom commented.

"It sure does..." Lillian agreed hesitantly.

'Sometimes I wish I never agreed to this..!' Willow said in a hushed tone as she turned away to avoid the wind blowing against her face.

"I guess we both failed day one!" announced the man. "I'll make sure to succeed tomorrow and then on!"

"B-but I don't know how to get you to stop smiling... I don't want to hurt you either.." Willow told the man as he slowed down to a stop.

"Huehuehue... You'll figure it out soon!" Henry chuckled. "Let's get you back to your tent. You look exhausted and we're still traveling back to Ylisse! Almost there though!~"

Willow only nodded, but she already knew that the group was going to have to stop several times on the way back. More opportunities to do ridiculous things or so she thought. Not like she ever does anything ridiculous unlike Henry.

"Hm? Oh look, a crow!" Henry pointed out energetically.

The black bird looked up at him and stared curiously before pattering its way to the dark mage and gave a soft "caw" to him.

"Sorry, bud, but the one you're looking for is longgggggg gone," he told the bird, waving it away.

"It's the crow you killed off earlier for the feathers, right?" Willow asked, earning a tilt from Henry's head and shrug from his shoulders.

"Probably the one from last week. Who knows."

He then walked into the tent and placed her seated onto the bed comfortably next to him.

"Hey, Willow?"

"Hm?"

The man reached up to his head and removed the headpiece off himself and placed it back onto its true owner.

"Nevermind."

Willow blinked and nodded as she readjusted the circulet thoughtfully and sighed.

"Are you ticklish?" he suddenly asked.

"Eh?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, Willow..." Lillian greeted, curiously looking at the woman who was currently in hiding.

The dark mage silently nodded a greeting back as she stuck to the side of the tent like glue. Somehow, she ended up in the crevices of two of the set up tents while trying to conceal herself from the open. Unluckily for her, a fellow tactician just happened to pass by. They are known to take notice of their surroundings after all.

"Is something up?" the woman asked as she looked away from Willow and leaned on one of the tents.

'... No... Nothing wrong, Miss Lillian,' she said in a not so loud tone.

'She's too inaudible sometimes...' Lillian sighed. "If you say so, but if there is something the matter, please note Robin, Chrom, or I. Hopefully you aren't becoming another Lon'qu..."

'Do not fret.. This is an important matter to me, I say beg of you to not say a word to Henry,' the woman requested, a look of worry in her eyes.

Lillian noticed Gaius looking at her and decided to send a note flying over to him after writing it down on a piece of paper. Thank gods for her skilled levitation she didn't have to throw the note or head over his way awkwardly. Quickly reading the note, the man nodded at Lillian and hid the paper.

"I promise," the female tactician replied as she left.

'Thank you,' Willow thanked as she watched her get called out by Stahl.

"Willow! Hey, Willow, are you still in camp?" Henry called, sounding a bit worried.

Again, no actual change in his face expression, but a new step forward for Willow when she noticed the differences in his tone now to the usual.

"Gaius, have you seen Willow anywhere?" he asked with a large grin on his face.

"Dolly? No, I haven't..." he replied as he stuffed handful of candies into his mouth. "Pulheash ashk Worggaholick."

"Repeat?" the man asked Gaius, confusion written in his word.

Gaius held up a hand for a moment as he swallowed and sighed in content.

"I said ask Workaholic. Maybe she knows."

"Oh. Yeah, okay," Henry replied, walking off else where.

'... He's still not upset..' Willow thought, examining Henry.

After waiting a minute longer, Gaius walked over to the woman's hiding spot and motioned her out of there. Willow silently stepped out and looked around several more times until she heard the sweet toothed theif chuckle at her.

"He's gone already, Dolly," the ginger assured her. "Did something happen to you both? I've never seen you run away from Sadistic before.."

"Nothing happened," the woman replied. "I assure you."

The man hummed curiously as he dug out a piece of candy from his pockets to hand over to her, sending a smile as he held it out.

"For you. I don't know what's up between you both with Sadistic running around looking for you and you just suddenly disappearing from our sight, but I hope everything goes well, unless I am wrong."

Willow blinked and ate the candy in a clueless manner as the theif stared back, suddenly going red and noticing that he was off a minute later.

"Sooooo... It's not that kind of way?"

"What way?" the woman asked innocently.

"I'm sorry.."

Patting his shoulder, the woman shook her head slightly and silently sighed.

"I don't know why you're apologizing for, but it's okay."

And with that, the dark mage turned and left in the other direction Henry disappeared off to. Well, except as soon as she left, the male dark mage suddenly came dashing back and tackling her to the ground with him underneath. Gaius stared a little awkwardly at the two and scratched the back of his head nervously, just slowly slipping away from their sight.

'I didn't expect him to get back here so quickly...' the theif muttered.

"Lilli, wouldn't tell me where you were, but I found you!" Henry exclaimed as he chuckled.

The woman struggled to get out of his grip but gave up after knowing that she was locked into his tight grasp, giving out and laying on him.

"Again, are you uncomfortable being tickled?" the man asked with a wider grin.

'No,' she mumbled into him.

"Oh? Heeheehee... If you say so...!" said Henry who excitedly began poking her all around.

The girl flinched and blushed at his touch around her waist and neck, her eyes widening and then shutting them closed tightly. She was ticklish, yes, but she needed to keep it in until she finally get him to frown at least once until she gave up. Burying her face into him to hide her flushed face, Henry giggled and sighed as he stopped and pat her head.

"I've never seen anyone resist as long as you do...! They always give out on the very first day!" Henry told her as he sat up and let her go.

The short woman looked up directly into his face and blinked shyly which caused Henry to feel a tiny flutter in his stomach.

'Hm? ...I think I'm sick... Oh well..' he thought as he kept up his grin.

"Hey! What are you guys doing sitting in the middle of nowhere?" a short blonde haired girl called, her messy pigtails bouncing around as she trotted over.

"Just playing around, nyahaha!" Henry laughed.

"Playing? Playing what?" Lissa asked excitedly, her blue eyes glimmering a bit.

'Errr...' Willow said quietly as she looked at Henry.

"I don't really know actually, nyahahahaha!" he cackled, causing Willow to sigh and shake along with his heaving chest.

"Eh? Well okay then.." the princess said, blinking at them blankly. "Sooo why are you playing around here?"

"?"

The two dark mages looked around to see a few of their allies pass by and smile at them both brightly or as for Virion, who is still going around flirting, not noticing them at all.

'How awkward...' Willow commented meekly as she got back up onto her feet. 'Please excuse us...'

"There you go again apologizing for no reason, dear!" Maribelle called as she walked over to the small group. "Chin up! There's much more you need to learn about yourself!"

'... I...'

"Uhpupup! There you go again!" the troubadour interrupted.

Willow immediately snapped her mouth shut and looked down at her feet.

'...'

"Don't look down. It's okay!" Maribelle chuckled.

"Hey, you can stick around with us! Maybe we can help!" Lissa suggested, grabbing Willow's wrist.

Willow slowly nodded until Henry also decided to reach out and grab her free hand as an instinct.

"Sorry, but she has plans with me today. Hexes and curses, ya know?" Henry somewhat lied, smiling calmly.

'I do?' the female dark mage thought.

"Oh... Sorry!" the cleric said, letting go of Willow. "Maybe later then!"

Maribelle only suspiciously eyed Henry as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"Didn't you do that yesterday too?" asked the woman in pink.

"We didn't finish," he chuckled. "She'll be free tomorrow however, nyahaha!"

"Then we can stay at my tent for tomorrow!" Lissa exclaimed as she clapped her hands together.

Maribelle nodded as they began to leave, however, she was still giving Henry a suspicious glance back as she departed.

"Hm..." hummed the suspecting Maribelle.

"Henry, you just lied to them, didn't you?" Willow asked curiously.

"Yep!" said he.

"Why is that?"

The woman was clearly fine with what he did since it didn't hurt anyone, but she just wanted to understand why he did it.

"I don't know! Why did I?" he laughed, making her sigh. "You're not going anywhere until this is over!~"

'I can see that..' she muttered softly.

The woman turned away from the male dark mage and rubbed her arm to calm down a chill that suddenly ran down the limb he held on. Without knowing, Henry, still smiling of course, reached over to one of her loose wavy locks and brought it up to his face, stopping about an inch away. Just what was he doing? Even he was unsure about himself.

"Henry?" Willow called as she turned to face him.

"Ah. Yeah? he replied with a grin, quick to hide what he was about to do earlier.

"My wrist..." she told him nervously.

"Oh. Sorryyyyyyy!" he apologized childishly as he let go.

He allowed his hand to slip off instead of suddenly pulling away from her though.

"What to do to make you smile, hmmmmmm," he hummed, rocking back and forth on his feet. "Crows? I attract many so that wouldn't be a problem at all!"

Willow shook her head silently as for she had always thought of crows as black birds who carry death around. If crows surrounded him so often, did that mean he was near death? Then again, she's just overthinking things once again. The woman didn't notice Henry disappearing else where as she thought to herself until he called her.

"Willow, look!" he exclaimed.

The woman snapped out of her thoughts and looked over to where she heard his voice. Henry, from head to toe, was covered with black puffs of feathers, crows to be exact. He was laughing and smiling as he ran around like a child playing around in a pile of leaves during fall. Willow raised her eyebrow as she watched him roam around, scaring others along the way not for what he was doing but for the cloud of birds.

"Wheeee heeheehee! Roarrr!" he exclaimed playfully.

"H-Henry..." Libra called nervously as he passed by caustiously.

"I'm sorry.." Willow apologized as she bowed to Libra.

The feminine looking man only smiled in response and pat her head to get her back up.

"It's quite alright," the priest chuckled as he looked at the entertainer.

"Oh! I can't see!" Henry said as a crow flew into his view. "Ah, oh well!"

Willow sighed as she watched Libra walk over to the cloud of black and waved the birds away. Henry now had scratches around his body where his skin wasn't covered by any sort of cloth.

"Ahhhh, pain...~" he said quite blissfully.

Chuckling nervously, Libra held up a healing staff over the male dark mage, bright light taking over the small wounds. Willow headed over to Henry as she thanked Libra quietly, grabbing Henry's big pale hand in her smaller lightly colored one. The man was still laughing to himself as he lapped up his own blood that the tiny cuts left back on his free hand after being recovered which slightly bothered Willow.

"Henry, please don't do that.." she asked him.

"But it's blood."

"All the more reason to not lick at it...!"

Henry then stopped and wrapped his arm around her small shoulders, leaning over her carefully.

'Then should I lick at you instead?' he joked quietly, his face near her neck. "Heeheehee! Just kidding! Don't be so tense!"

The flustered woman released her breath as she turned around to frown at her ally who was still smiling as always.

"Those kinds of joke won't make me laugh you know?" she said sternly.

"I'm well aware..!" Henry confirmed, letting out a laugh again.

Robin then came over to the two as he watched Henry laugh to himself with Willow looking at him tiredly and just standing there.

"Hey, looks like you guys are having fun," Robin chuckled.

Willow looked up at Robin with a face that told him, "Please don't encourage this man any further..." in which he understood immediately.

"I'm looking for Libra right now. Have you seen him anywhere?" the male tactician asked before Henry said anything, going straight to the point.

"We were just with him a moment ago!" Henry annouced. "Oh, and how was the night with Tharja?"

Robin cringed a little as his brown eyes darted around the area to look for the said woman.

'I didn't even get to sleep...' he muttered disappointingly. 'I also devised a plan to sleep over with Chrom or Lillian, but I'm afraid she'll hunt them down for this if she finds out... Most likely.'

Willow shook her head and held a finger up to her lips as her eyes scanned the campsite.

"Might as well not say a single thing about it," said the woman as she looked at the same dark figure of the busty dark mage. "Besides, I don't think she'll really attack her own allies just like that. I may be wrong."

Robin was now sighing a heavy one as he looked behind him to see what the woman was looking at.

"Need a curse?" Henry suddenly asked.

'Anything to get me relaxing and stress free again...' Robin sobbed.

"Then please get a blood sample of hers and yours for me. Just a small drop would do fine!" said the smiling man. "Oh and don't forget the galds..."

"Wait, what?!"

Willow then jumped in and shook her head, disapproving Henry's idea.

"Don't do it. Please don't do it.." Willow requested shakily.

"I won't, don't worry. But that's crazy... From her? I think she'd make me do something before getting it!" Robin exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Awww, too bad! Well, I'll be returning among my businesses with Willow here, but if you ever change your mind, I'll be around!" said Henry as he walked off with Willow.

"They make a weird team..." Robin commented as he scratched the back of his head. "No.. more like a weird couple..."

"Day two... Another failure!" Henry said excitingly instead of mad. "This is fun... but we're both failing hardcore, nyahahahaha!"

'Why do you get the easier job...?' Willow asked herself quietly.

"I heard that...~" Henry cooed, causing her to jump. "It'll be all over if you smile!"

"It'd be over immediately if you frown now...!"

"As if I'll do that! That's too easyyyy! Besides, it doesn't even fit me!"

It was true. It certainly didn't fit him, or so Willow thought. He then decided to pick her up off the ground again and giggled. She knew what was coming up next. Their newly planned run around camp Henry decided to do at least nearly everyday.

"Time to train! Another round around the camp for day two!" he declared.

"W-wait, no! Two rounds yesterday was enough!" Willow said as he dashed off. "Henryyyy! This isn't trainingggg!"


	4. Chapter 4

Finally, a day without Henry... er.. not really. Willow decided to head out and see the young princess, Lissa, and her close friend Maribelle. She was hoping for a day to stay away from Henry most of her time, which is kind of working out, but the male dark mage was following her from afar. How does she know? He just attracts one too many crows... Judging by his behavior, Willow concluded that the man was still at it even when she's just going to have a visit with someone else. A straight face expression, however, remained much to his dismay. He shouldn't have expected much.

"Willow, you came!" Lissa giggled as she allowed the woman in.

Willow quietly nodded and accepted the offer to step into the tent,following Maribelle, who prompted her over, to a seat. It's not like her to ignore a friendly request just like that after all.

"She didn't smile again," Henry thought aloud.

"What are you now, a stalker?" Frederick asked the pale dark mage, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

Don't forget who's tent that belongs to. Frederick crossed his arms slowly as he began to tap his foot on the ground. Henry, on the otherhand, sighed and just gave him a shrug which caused the crows perched on him to fly away, cawing as they disappeared.

"May I say that I'm just a good looking dark mage out to complete my own challenge?" he joked, giving a light snicker to the brown haired man.

"If your goal deals something with the princess, then no," replied the knight.

"Something that deals with Lissa? No, no, you got it all wrong, pal, nyahahaha!" he laughed. "Seriously, I don't need her in this operating scheme I'm devising."

Frederick rose a brow curiously and narrowed his eyes at the smiling dark mage suspiciously.

"I don't trust you when you say 'scheme,' Henry."

"I know! That's why I say it! Scheme, hehe..." chuckled the man as he walked away.

Frederick blinked at him awkwardly as he watched the man leave to look for another spot to wait for the woman. That was until it clicked into his mind.

"Hey, Henry! Don't you cause any trouble now!" he called after him.

'He's totally going to give my intentions away...' thought the dark mage.

"Up! And sit... Up!"

"Why are we doing this again...?" Willow asked awkwardly as she followed the blonde ladies' example.

"Because why not? I just want to see what you're really like. But it does look like you've been trained manners. Now up!" Maribelle said as she stood back up.

"I-I believe so...?" replied the dark mage.

"Hey, what's up with you and Henry lately?" Lissa asked excitedly. "I mean you both are close and all, but he's been carrying you around a lot lately..!"

"He has?" Willow replied questioningly.

'She sounds unaware...' Maribelle mumbled as she walked over to Willow. "Willow, dear-"

"I apologize for being so oblivious," she quickly said as she bowed down.

"T-that's not why called you, dear..." she said awkwardly. "Come, chin up! Only scums look down at the ground!"

Willow stood back up but was still glancing around nervously, causing Maribelle to quickly grab her face and turn towards her carefully.

"Look here! I won't bite! The princess won't bite either! Now calm down and say something besides an apology," she told the woman, softly patting her forcefully puffed up cheeks.

Willow silently nodded as the troubadour's warm gloved hands left her cheeks. Straightening her back, the woman thought of what to say, but got nothing.

'Um...' quietly the dark mage said. 'T-thank you for inviting me...?"

Lissa and Maribelle looked at each other for a second and then smiled worriedly at Willow.

"That's a good start, but..." Lissa began.

"Try saying it without ending it in a question, dear," Maribelle said.

Obviously, everyone knew what was coming up next as Willow slightly opened her mouth to say something.

"Please... Don't apologize, dear..." Maribelle said as she pressed a finger against her lips exhaustively.

Willow then nodded awkwardly as she slowly removed her finger away from her again.

'Thank you for, inviting me..' she repeated softly.

"No problem!" Lissa replied happily.

"You're always welcome," Maribelle added with a proud smile. "Now was that very hard?"

Willow didn't say anything as she blinked and thought about her answer.

"Actually, don't answer that ridiculous question... Of course it was easy..." she responded for her with a sigh.

Instead of saying anything else, the woman remained quiet as she thought about her apologies to be a nuisance to everyone.

"So what happened yesterday?" Lissa decided to ask as she sat down on her bed.

"What do you mean?" asked the dark mage.

"Hexes and curses, right? How was it?" giggled the cleric.

'Umm...'

The woman didn't know what to say since one, she didn't want to lie and two, she knew she didn't make up any hexes or curses. What could she say without letting others in the fray? Besides, everyone is curious about her facial expression just as they are with Henry's. Having them join would just make it more chaotic than it already is with Henry alone. He's quite a handful...

'We failed making the curse...' she squeaked.

"Failed? How rare.. It's Henry after all, so this is a first.." Maribelle said surprisingly.

"It was my fault," loudly she spoke.

"Oh, I see.." Lissa mused. "You'll get it done soon!"

"R-right..."

"But care to explain why he's always touchy-feely around you? How indecent of him to touch a lady all he wants!" Maribelle groaned hinting about the times she's spotted them.

"I fell... when we were looking for things we needed for the hex..." Willow lied. "And I'm... clumsy.."

What she was really thinking about, however, was "because he tackled me down, but broke my fall and he's trying to get me to laugh or so..."

"Are you okay? So that's what he meant by playing around..." Lissa said. "What a confusing guy.."

"I am fine, as you can see. Thank you for asking."

"Heyyyyyy! You're speaking normally again!"

"Good, good! Continue and you'll be apologizing less than usual," Maribelle said proudly.

"O-okay..."

The two high class women then decided to serve tea and some cookies in the tent after taking their time to get Willow used to the new task she's been assigned to. Willow nervously accepted their kindness and continued to spend her time with them in hopes of keeping her distant from the male dark mage for a while longer. It was a nice change. However, once she leaves this makeshift building, it's back to the usual poking around with the man.

'Excuse me for interrupting, may I come in?' a familiar male voice rang.

"Yeah, of course!" Lissa called as the tent entrance opened.

"The lady, Lillian, has a word to say," Frederick announced.

"Just... Lillian is fine, Frederick..." the woman said tiredly. "I'm not a noble."

Frederick didn't reply as he nodded and continued to stand in his usual stiff-looking pose.

"Chrom has decided that we'll be moving out tomorrow morning," she began, smiling a bit. "It seems that we're all rested up well and ready to go. Have you stocked up on weapons and cures?"

"Most certainly! One must always be ready at all times!" Maribelle said with a confident smile.

Lillian nodded as she smiled brightly at the group who also gave her a grin just as lively. Well, take out Willow from the picture and it'd be everyone.

"There have been risens spotted near the area we will be traveling to next so be on guard. Tomorrow morning, Robin will announce the positions we'll be in before we deploy for travel and battle."

"Well, you already know you're always going to be with my brother and Robin himself," Lissa giggled.

Lillian's cheeks slightly dusted with a light pink as she gave the shorter woman a funny look.

"Not always... Are you implying something..?"

"Mayyyybe!"

"I can be paired up with anyone actually as long my health doesn't fail me, that is, then I can roam around on my own," the female tactician awkwardly said.

"Righttttttt, anyways thanks for telling us, Lilli! We'll be sure to get ready in the morning," Lissa chuckled.

As Lillian nodded and turned around to leave, Frederick opened the tent door and peeked out quietly before letting the woman leave.

"Is something the matter, Frederick?" she asked as they left the princess' tent.

"Ah, no, nothing at all," he replied, smiling a little to cover it up. "Lord Chrom must be waiting for us."

Walking off in a complete circle, the man finally headed off in the direction of the prince's tent, leaving the tactician confused as she checked off the list he held until she caught sight of... crows..

"Oh. Forget I asked then..." she muttered as she slipped away frm the sight of a spying Henry.

It seems that the man is aware of what she just said. Honestly, from everybody else's point of view he looks like a peeping tom more than anything else.

"Henry! Are you doing indecent acts? May I ask you to refrain yourself?" Libra suddenly called, giving him a disturbed look.

Henry looked over grinning as always and gave him a shrug.

"It's not like I have a dirty mind unless you count killing and stuff as dirty, nyahahaha!" he replied.

"Killing isn't a good thing either. What are you doing trying to spy on Lissa like that?" the priest asked.

"Good holy feminine looking man, I am NOT spying on the princess, but merely eavesdropping!" he defended himself in the worse possible way. "Lissa has nothing to do with me."

"F-feminine... man..."

His constant grinning wasn't really helping him either even if he tried sounding serious.

"Just... let's go elsewhere. You look like you're trying to assassinate or kidnap someone..." Libra said.

Henry sighed. The dark mage then decided to cast a quick curse that still allowed him to listen in on the women's conversation as he sauntered away back to his place with his chilling smile, chilling if you still haven't gotten used to it yet. He wanted to catch Willow's face expression when she left the tent, but apparently for him, he was unable to with the constant suspicious sounding questions he obtained.

"Did you hear someone call Henry just now?" Maribelle asked curiously, earning a head shake from Lissa.

"You must be hearing things," the princess replied with a grin.

'No, you certainly heard right...' Willow thought as she disbanded the curse she sensed on the tent.

"... Ahhhh, dang it, she knew all along," the man giggled to himself before switching his smile into a more somber expression. "... My face hurts..."

Making sure no one was going to enter his tent anytime soon the man rubbed his face to loosen it up from the smiles and grins he always put up with, slightly opening his eyes to take in the sight of the dim room.

'Henry, can I enter? It's Robin.'

The man suddenly jolted in surprise as he ran over to his curse filled books and faced his back towards the door before the male tactician could come in.

"Oh, yeah sure, Robin! Are you here for a hex of some sort?" he asked in a jolly tone.

"No, it's not for a curse," he replied as he walked in looking around the messy tent uncomfortably. "Jeez, when will you dark mages clean up...?"

Henry quickly fixed his smile and turned around to face Robin.

"Hey now! Don't be so uptight about the mess, nyahaha!" he laughed. "The messier the better! It gives off a great vibe. Besides, Willow isn't messy."

"Just don't trip... Have you heard about what's going on tomorrow yet?"

"Yes, sir!~" he chimed.

"Oh, great then! Less work for me I guess," chuckled the tactician. "I better get going and see the rest of the people I was assigned to see."

The man then took off as he checked off his list of people and left Henry alone in his test once again, allowing him to rest his face.

"Nnnng... My face is sore..." he groaned again, laying down on his bed.

He was unaware that his friend was getting ready to leave and visit him in a bit. He, however, decided to fall asleep on his stomach with his face flat in his pillow.

"Thank you for inviting me once again," Willow said as she got herself up and out through the door.

"Come hang out with us again anytime!" Lissa exclaimed, throwing her arms up into the air.

"You're most welcome to join when you like," Maribelle told the dark mage.

Willow nodded as she began to walk off and check on Henry while the other two women waved her off.

"I'm suprised that a dark mage could be just as polite and well-mannered. Why is she one anyways?" the troubadour mused curiously.

"Maybe cause she wants to for fun," giggled the cleric.

"Maybe...?" questioned Maribelle as she headed back into the tent for more tea with Lissa.

"Yep! But we can't be sure until we ask her and confirm it you know?"

Willow sneezed and looked around her surroundings anxiously as she continued to look for Henry. The last place she looked in for him was obviously his tent.

'Henry...?' she called quietly, looking around for him. '... Henry...?'

Looking over at the giant dark lump on the bed, the woman blinked and smiled a little, shaking her head and walking over to the napping man. A chance or so she thought. As she knelt down next to him and tried to look for his face, she wiped off the smile she had on her own incase he suddenly woke up. Henry was still in the same position as before unfortunately. Willow then tried to roll him over onto his back carefully, but was unable to do so. He was quite heavy for a somewhat skinny guy...

'...'

The woman sighed as she sat down on the ground and waited for him to get up. It wasn't until she fell asleep on the ground the male dark mage decided to wake up.

"Hmm...?" he hummed groggily, looking over at the woman before grinning. "... Nice try, Willow, but I won't let my guard down that easily.."

Sitting up and pulling his bangs away from his face to get a clearer look, Henry pulled the female dark mage upright and picked her up to get her on the bed comfortably. He had to remove her circulet first and untie her hair before laying her down.

"Geez, you don't smile when you sleep either...!" he commented quietly as he pulled his blanket over her, sitting near her sleeping figure and watching her sleep. "Weirdo, hehe... Should I force a smile on you..? Nah... It wouldn't be as good as you doing it yourself."


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey, Willow.. Willowwwww.. Willieeee..." Henry called as he poked her cheek.

Willow lightly groaned and sat up in bed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She felt exhausted, probably because she was asked to wake up early without her consent.

"Yes, Henry?" she replied.

"It's time to go! Wake up, sleepyhead, heehee..~"

The female dark mage remained silent as she slowly turned her head to look at the man next to her. The moment finally clicked in when she realized she ended up falling asleep in his tent.

"... O-oh.." she said awkwardly.

Looking down, Willow felt the bed sheets with her right hand and confirmed she really was in his bed.

"... Hen-Hen... Where did you sleep..?" she asked quietly, looking back up to smiling eyes.

Henry tilted his head innocently and smiled brightly.

"Here of course! To be exact, the bed also, nyaha!" he cackled.

The man continued to laugh while Willow had a blank expression on her face as she took in the information.

"... It would've been better if you woke me up before hand so I could head back to my tent.."

Henry waved a dismissive hand and rested it on top of her head, gently stroking her messy locks.

"I didn't want to bother you. Besides, it was nice to have someone nearby," Henry reasoned. "Well, awkward too I guess, but better than not having anyone close in general."

The woman held in a smile though she nodded and got off the bed quietly.

"I guess that's true..." she agreed.

She yawned a bit and decided to head back to get ready for the morning march with Henry following her.

"You don't even smile when you sleep...!" Henry giggled as they left the tent. "How odd!"

".. Please don't sleep with me again," she mumbled, wondering if she did ever smile while they both were knocked out.

Henry felt disappointed in hearing her response. Grabbing her wrist, the male dark mage pulled her into him and smiled gently, not as crazed or as wide as before. It seemed more genuine than before.

"Don't worry, I didn't see any sort of smile nor tried anything funny," he reassured her.

Willow looked down and hid a smile as she nodded understandingly.

"I-I still need to get ready..." she told him, quickly wiping of her smile.

The man allowed her to and continued to follow since he already finished his part while she was asleep, not having anything to do now.

"Hopefully we don't encounter any problems during the march..." Willow mumbled.

"Ehhhh? Why not? There will be lots of fun and fighting and blood and decapitation and more blood!" Henry listed off.

The woman cringed at the mentioned events and shook her head.

"Sorry, Henry, but I don't like those kinds of things.."

"True.. I know you don't, so I'll be here to prevent you from getting hurt and seeing violence!" he exclaimed.

The woman blinked and looked over at him awkwardly.

"What? Not cheesy enough?" he asked with a grin.

Willow silently rolled her eyes and stalked off quickly. She didn't want to be he reason for keeping everyone waiting if she took her time, not like she was holding them up in the first place. Henry was still walking with her from behind, smiling brightly. It seemed to be radiating off his face since the woman was able to determine whether he was grinning or smiling. Then again, he's always grinning and smiling. Nevermind about that.

When they got to Willow's tent, the female dark mage entered, but soon after poked her head out the makeshift building.

"..."

Henry was now giggling as if he was a child playing pranks on his own parents.

"Did you clean up for me?" she asked curiously, her voice sounding soft and gentle.

The man nodded and gave a quick pat on her head. Willow sighed a little and nodded a little before murmuring a quiet "thank you."

"But do tell..." she added, earning an understanding nod.

The young woman then entered her tent again to grab her things before they went to meet up with all the other sheperds. The number of awoken people was slowly increasing as everyone finished getting ready for the next march.

"Lilli..." Robin whispered quietly.

The female tactician hummed a dull "hm?" as she looked through a list she scribbled up the night before.

"Help me..." he continued after receiving an answer.

Sighing, Lillian looked up to face the man and see him point at Tharja nervously. Again, the female black mage was going all out with stalking on the male tactician the very morning.

"Hello, Tharja. Are you all ready to head out?" Lillian asked politely, smiling.

Nodding, Tharja's eyes quickly shift from the man to the woman next to him and back again.

"Finished early. Just to see Robin...~" she replied.

Robin shuddered and backed away a little, closer to Lillian.

"Probably just infatuation, should be a normal thing for certain people. Calm down.." the female tactician mumbled to him. "She'll get over it sooner or later... Maybe never.."

"Lilli...!" Robin whined quietly.

"Hey, Robin, would you like to go check on Chrom with me?" she asked looking back at him with a smile.

"Eh? A-ah- sure, yeah!" replied the man quickly. "I'll come, err.. Help out.."

"We'll be back to see if everyone is ready once we check up on him."

She then walked off in the direction of the prince's tent with Robin quickly following close beside her.

"Help out? We're just checking on him," muttered Lillian.

"Well, sorry..."

Tharja remained quiet as she nodded and sighed exasperatingly.

"Another miss.. Oh well..."

Looking over his shoulder, Robin noticed that the woman was still watching him leave, but wasn't moving anywhere. He felt relieved, but then he forgot she was able to cast curses on him at any moment, quickly walking off and dragging Lillian with him.

"Ah?" she questioned.

"Thanks, sorry," he murmured quickly, his face paling.

"She's not going to do anything..." the female tactician assured him. "Well, correction: to you. I don't know about me. Probably not."

She eventually caught up to his pace and continued to follow, not like she had a choice with him gabbing her hand.

"Chrom should be up by now... I wonder if he's packed yet?" the woman thought out loud.

"I'm sure he-"

"Whee! Birds! Nyahahahaha!" Henry exclaimed out of nowhere, running passed the two tacticians with a dense black cloud of crows following him.

"H-Henry...!" Willow squeaked, slowly running behind the crows nervously.

She would run, well more like jog, and stop once in a bit to conserve her energy for the march unlike Henry who is running all out.

"They sure are lively this morning..." Robin commented.

"No... I think it's just Henry that's lively this morning.." Lillian corrected.

"... Yeah, I think you're right.."

"H-H-Henry...!" Willow called again quietly, stopping the chase altogether.

The man eventually turned back and ran towards her, picking her up as he came. The crows seemed to be following him nonstop.

"Eep!" she squeaked out of surprise, holding onto him after he scooped her up into his arms.

Lillian and Robin continued walking off after the two disappeared again. It was silent and quite awkward.

"Hope for the best.." the man said as he looked at the shrinking figure.

"She'll live. Let's go," Lillian replied with a smile.

Smiling back, Robin willing left with the woman, letting go of her wrist to walk more comfortably with each other. They eventually arrived to Chrom's tent and stood outside to decide who should head in first.

"Ladies first?" Robin asked instead of said.

"Oh whatever..." she replied as she walked in. "Hey, Chrom-"

Apparently, Frederick was still in the process of violently waking him up while the two tacticians were entering the tent.

"Sir, you're oversleeping! You slept late last night, didn't you?" he exclaimed worriedly, shaking him a bit before dragging him up right and letting go.

When he did let go, Chrom just fell backwards onto his bed again fast asleep.

"Err... I think we interrupted something we shouldn't have a second time..." Lillian told Robin in a hushed tone.

The male tactician nodded awkwardly and led her back out.

"Maybe we'll let Frederick handle it this time around..." he told her, bringing her else where.

"Yes, let's..."

Meanwhile, after a minute later of running, Henry was panting and giggling to himself while Willow sat on the ground with her head hung low. The crows were finally gone.

"Hehehehe, that was fun.. Don't you think, Willow?"

"No..." she said quietly.

Feathers were stuck in their hair now, but no one was injured nor even scratched up from the event.

"Aw, I thought that would work too..." he said, still smiling. "Nothing is working so far."

Willow was wondering, by now, how he is able to keep up his large smile every single day. Even she would get tired if she forced herself to smile just for a few minutes.

"I'm not smiling until I get you to stop smiling first, Hen-Hen."

Henry rose a brow at her declare and tilted his head.

"How about on the count of three we both flash the opposite expression we create then?" suggested the male dark mage.

No response came out of Willow's lips; there were no body movements either as she stared at him silently.

"I'll take that as a yes. One, two three!" he counted down quickly.

None of them bothered to change their face expressions, not even a tiny bit.

"Ooh, you're tough.." he giggled hugging her. "Come on, smile! I want to win this time around!"

"That's nice.." she commented, hugging him back. Henry was now swaying around both their bodies as if he was shaking her with him slowly. "But that doesn't mean I'll let you win.. Of course not at all..."

"How competitive of you! I never thought you were this type of person! Heeheehee!"

The woman muttered a few words to herself, hoping that she wouldn't get caught, but knowing Henry, he immediately caught her.

"Counter!~ No dirty tricks!" laughed the man as he disabled her curse.

"... I'm sorry."

"Again with the apologies. I would've done the same if I didn't hold back!~"

That is true. If he didn't hold back or if she never thought to ask him not to cast a hex on her, he would go all out. He is a powerful dark mage afterall and she was unsure if Henry would try to cast a hex she couldn't undo onto her.

"I didn't expect you to hold it back, but okay.. I'll refrain from doing so too," she said, pulling away and sit back to relax a bit.

Henry giggled and layed down flat on his back in the grass. He was a bit tired and was beginning to have second thoughts on running before the march.

'Maybe, running wasn't such a good idea.. Tired...' he thought to himself, opening his eyes a bit to see.

Willow quickly caught him and stared. He didn't really mind as he glanced at her for a bit and closed his eyes again.

"Yessss?~ Something on my face? Hahaha!" asked Henry.

Willow shook her head and looked forward again.

"Just odd to see you open your eyes.. You barely do so.." she answered. "Abnormal..."

Henry just chuckled and sighed.

"Don't like it?" he asked, grinning.

"I didn't say that.. I just said that it's different.."

Willow then returned to fixing the circulet around her head again quietly. After a few more attempts, she took it off completely and left it in the grass next to her.

"I'm tired, but I didn't run too much.. Why is that..?" she mused. "Oh well..."

Henry giggled as he sat up, faced her, and dropped himself back down onto her lap. He was careful not to hurt her when he layed his head onto her lap, turning to the side just to face her.

"We have time to rest. ..For a bit actually," he told her.

Willow nodded and leaned back against a tree as she picked out crow feathers from his hair gently. The man smiled as he reached up to pet her hair and grab a few black feathers that stuck out of it. Instead of throwing it away, he decided to stick it back into her hair behind her ear instead and chuckled.

"Black really does suit you.. Hm... Have you ever tried wearing something else other than black?" Henry asked with a grin.

Willow shook her head and continued to pull out the feathers tangled up in his hair carefully.

"It was always black ever since the plegians brought me in," she replied casually.

"Ahhh, I see... But your pink hair isn't black. Your red and gold eyes aren't black either. They're quite colorful actually, so you really are wearing something other than black on yourself! Just permanently, nyahahaha!" he laughed.

Willow shrugged and rested her hand onto his head after getting the feathers out.

"I guess you are right in some kind of way... Makes sense, I suppose.."

"Welcome to Henry one-o-one where you'll be enlightened by Henry the dark mage! I'm your host, Henry!~" he joked around.

"Errr... Enlightened...?" the female asked, earning a giggle and a nod combined. "And how will you enlighten me..?"

"I don't know," he replied, slurring the last two word together.

"... Okay then..."

Sitting back up and placing the circulet back onto Willow's head, Henry smiled and got back onto his feet.

"Let's go get food quickly before we head out!" Henry snapped, picking up Willow and running off again.

"A-ah... Okay..." she said hesitantly. "No more running.. We'll be marching soon..."

Henry giggled and stopped himself from dashing off again, just walking at a casual pace in response to her.

"If you say so!"

* * *

 **Stormy: Fire Emblem Fates is so addictinggggggggg! THERE'S NO SAVING ME NOW, AHAHAHAHA -in FE heaven- I have a Fates story in mind -sob-**

 **Lillian: -Sweat- Over exaggerating...**

 **Stormy: Am not.. -pouts- It really is addicting..**

 **Willow: -Awkward- B-but we're fighting and possibly killing ourselves in the game?**

 **Stormy: Ehhhhhh. No comment, Willow. Anyways, thank you for the reviews Guest, Kasey! I appreciate it very much and am glad that you enjoy this story! For the guest who also left a review on** **A Secret?** **I'm glad you liked that FE Fates one-shot! xD Hope you continue to support my stories and stuff! Even when I'm so slow with updates.. R &R and enjoy!**

 **~stormy003**


	6. Chapter 6

Finally, the march. The main tactician of the group, Robin, assigned the shepherds' their positions for the travel, in which they all agreed to and scampered off. It wasn't very suprising that Willow and Henry were stuck with each other since they- according to nearly everyone- work very well together. As the group walked and chat with each other on their trip, Henry decided it was a good idea to talk to Willow about what they would or wouldn't do to cure their boredom.

"Hmmmm... I never would try to kill a plegian soldier on my own will..!" Henry claimed, laughing.

Willow sighed looked at him blankly.

"I'm pretty sure you did try more than once..." she told him in a soft spoken tone. "And I won't deny I didn't..."

The man just kept laughing in response, suddenly patting her on the back.

"You know me too well!"

"... More like I don't... We all heard things about you though..." she replied awkwardly.

"Oh really? I'm famous then! Nyahahaha!" he laughed. "But anyways, it's always great to hear their life escaping their own bodies! It's like whoosh! Just you really can't hear it if you don't think about it!"

The female dark mage nodded slowly as her partner continued to laugh gleefully to himself. Sometimes, she just thought he was plain crazy; other times, she looked at him as if he was special in some sort of way even with his possible facades taking over his face.

"I've never thought that a spirit leaving a body could make a whooshing noise..." awkwardly spoke the young woman.

The man giggled and held up a finger along with his thumb pointed outwards, his usual habit that tells her he was going to explain something he deemed good to know.

"Your surroundings don't matter!" Henry said.

"... Okay... What does this have to do with it...?"

"And you need to imagine it happening right there in front of you once the victim dies. Blood goes splattering everywhere and then you hear that whooshing noise come out of their corpses. I don't think the same satisfying noise comes out of a dead risen though. Hm."

The woman blinked her droopy eyes and stared silently until she opened her mouth to speak. But then nothing came out of her mouth as she looked at Henry's bright grinning face, causing her to close it again.

'That made no sense to me...' she thought.

Henry didn't seem to mind the reaction he got from the female dark mage and just giggled, skipping ahead to look for carcasses along the way.

"D-don't go too far away from me...! Willow squeaked as she rushed to follow.

"Hm? Why not? We're just walking through the forest right now," he stated.

"Doesn't mean nothing can't go wrong..."

And he continued to walk away from Willow, getting her to grab onto his cape gently. She didn't seem to make some other facial expression as he did this. It sucked, or so he thought.

"Henry... Where are you going...?" she asked curiously.

It sounded more like a frightened question than the usual casual sounding question when other people asked.

"Walking! Nyahahahaha!"

"Walking where?"

"To look for more dead things to experiment with! Oooh! Maybe this time Robin will let me summon. Risen nearby, hehehehe.."

"You know that it's dangerous... Don't do that..." Willow told him.

He just continued to giggle as she sighed and followed him anyways. The two were still within group distance, but they were a tad off the track in which nobody really minded.

"Don't stray away too far from us, you two!" Chrom called.

Even the prince didn't mind, knowing both were responsible enough to return safely in the group and even just staying in sight. But he still needed to get it out there for Henry's sake.

"You got it!" the male dark mage called.

Willow just nodded and followed the man, clinging to his black and purple cape. Not like Henry minded, but he seemed to want her to walk next to him instead. She eventually did when he slowed his pace down a little which he didn't want to do, but if it got her next to him, he'll do it.

"Feeling weary or something?" he giggled teasingly. "We barely even walked yet!"

Really, they have been walking for a while in reality. Henry was just being his typical self. The woman shook her head quietly and said something even softer than before, which she couldn't be heard through the marching soldiers nearby. It got Henry curious in which he leaned down a little further to hear her speak clearly.

"I think something is near us..." she said again.

She looked around with concern written on her face- that only ruined her from a smile further.

"Is it a body?" Henry asked exuberantly.

"Noooo..." she replied. "Enemies... or something.. It moves..."

Henry tilted his head, but continued to move on anyways with the female dark mage following close behind. His face expression slightly darkened when he looked away from her; he glanced around to see what she meant. There certainly were silhouettes near by the troop a little deeper in the forest and that pertubed the atmosphere around him.

"Oh Chrom!~" Henry exclaimed happily.

Willow blinked as he ran back to the group with her being dragged behind; Chrom looked over at the returning two.

"What is it? Another body?" the prince asked with a slight brow raise.

It was not unusual for Henry to show off a carcass to everyone when he suddenly wants to which was why the prince's first assumption was a dead body.

"... Nope! Something even better...!"

Willow shook her head in response and motioned Chrom closer to her in which he did. He didn't know what was going on at the moment, but the group kept walking on.

"Please be on guard... I feel like someone or something is following us in numbers..." she told him.

The prince frowned a little and nodded as he straightened his back up to tell the tactician nearest to him what was going on. Robin nodded and got words to slowly pass around the group quietly incase the enemies were near to eavesdrop on them. And if they did, it'd only result to trouble. Everyone continued to chatter normally like nothing happened, but they kept an eye out for danger. So far, there were no attacks yet. YET.

"Maybe I was wrong..." Willow told herself.

"What was that?" Henry asked, grinning.

He already knew what she said, but deecided to ask anyways for the heck of it.

"It's nothing.. Don't worry about it..."

The male dark mage giggled and continued to look around the environment they currently were in. Willow sigh in response to his carefree attitude, but soon brushed it off to remain in her usual disposition. It wasn't long until they heard something get closer than before.

"..."

The group stopped and looked around their surroundings anxiously. It seems as though everyone heard it due to suddenly becoming silent and still. But nothing came.

"... Let's pick up the pace..." Chrom eagerly announced.

By now, he just wanted to get out of the dense forest before any sort of attacks came. It would be bad to start it there due to trees blocking the way of their own attacks, enemies hiding around, and possibilities of having some of the shepherds separated from the group. Heck, someone can even start a forest fire- surprisingly enough, the enemy hasn't thought of that just yet. They would be dead by now if there was one, but it'd also be suicide on their part.

"Lilli? What are you writing?" Stahl asked as he looked at the woman situated behind him comfortably.

"Possibilities in advantages and disadvantages fighting in here..." she murmured, leaning back onto his back comfortably.

The woman looked up from her book and looked around to check for abnormalties. Due to facing the very back of the group she was able to see everything in place of the army with her, becoming the eyes of the back of their heads. It was then when she noticed a risen peeking down from a tree silently.

"... Stahl... Stahl, get yourself ready," Lillian told him hurriedly before calling out to everyone else. "Shepherds!"

The group quickly got a hold of their weapons as they looked around and kept moving. The healers hesitantly looked around and stuck close to their partners due to not being able to fight themselves. Soon an arrow was seen coming at both Stahl and Lillian, the two in the very back.

"Incoming attack!" the woman called as she knocked the protectile away with her steel sword.

The group quickly took off and away from the area as quickly as they could, cueing the risens to come out from the dark and towards the army.

"The attack has begun! Stay close!" Chrom told them as the enemies came through on all sides.

Staying close was a problem due to some troops being on mounts and others on foot. Risens on their own mounts were able to catch up to those on their feet- they were being held back as all the other risens decided to land blows on those falling back.

"We're out numbered..." Willow told Henry as she casted Mire.

But of course... you can see him casting hexes on the monsters, giggling away as they died and reduced to dust.

"Who's next?~" he sang, holding up his Ruin tome.

"Gods he's weird..." the woman commented.

Chrom and Robin quickly got rid of the risens in their area and ran off to help those who needed their assistance the most around them. Everyone needed to support each other to get out of the mess at the moment, but numbers kept on rising as time passed.

"Stahl, we need to catch some of their attentions to lead them away from those falling behind. I can see a mage from here and I'm hoping he doesn't have any fire related tomes..."

"I'll need to put you somewhere safe before I act," he told her.

The man looked around for an open area before doing anything crazy and lit up when he noticed one nearby. The fields looked empty from afar and he was hoping there weren't going to be anything more over in the area for he was going to leave the woman there and try to bust out of the forest without the enemies bombarding him. He was going to need a second person to help him pull the two units out.

"Frederick!" the cavalier called. "Chrom can handle the area over there with Robin and the others with them, but there are risens over by the circling trees. Anna and Ricken are there."

The knight came over and looked over to see Anna and Ricken stuck in the center of the hoard trying to fend themselves off. Meanwhile Stahl quickly took off to leave his partner in the nearby fields out of danger.

"Get away!" Ricken claimed, blasting a few of the enemies away with the use of Wind.

Anna continuously tried to cut her way out of the group, but more came adding to the crowd. It became harder for them to escape and the other units were still trying to deal with those after them. Frederick and Stahl charged in to help the two, which soon caught their surveillance due to suddenly butting in. Ricken quickly supported the two in which help get rid the risen quicker as Anna threw away her broken sword and picked up a new one. The boy and merchant quickly mounted the horses and eventually attracted the monsters off to the field where Lillian safely stood with a Rexcalibur tome and a Levin Sword in hand. During the march, she asked to borrow the sword from Robin due to only taking a few regular swords with her. The mob came closer slowly.

"Yeesh..." she commented with a cringe.

Robin and Chrom were able to help the others get out of the mess quickly due to being so close to each other. It just so happened that Anna and Ricken got unlucky and parted from the group, hence being trapped by the risens.

"Lilli!" Robin called, readying his Thoron tome.

Willow and Henry quickly caught up with the others as they ran out of the forest and left the Risens in their dust. Henry was busy using Nosferatu on the enemies as he ran, recovering the little damage he took. A few risen got out the forest and reached the female tactician who quickly casted Rexcalibur to defend herself. Even though the woman wasn't allow to do much due to her health, but she did whatever she could to help the group. For having health problems, she is still a superb fighter, defending herself from blows of a few swordsmen.

"Are you okay?" Chrom asked as he and Robin came up to her to help her defend.

"Dandy. Perfectly fine," she grunted as she swung the sword in her hand. "I had Stahl drop me off here before getting Anna and RIcken out of a sticky situation."

Robin mumbled a few things and casted his Thoron on the charging group of Risens, obliterating the ones who came head first in a single go. Lillian was able to reach a few of the monsters with Levin Sword's thunder magic and once she was able to fully chant the spell of Rexcalibur, released it once more to rid the others. Due to being out in the open, everyone had an easier time killing the enemies.

"Gods, why are there so many at this moment...?" Chrom groaned, swinging his sword to decapitate a Risen.

"I believe they've inhabited this place long before we came," Robin responded.

Lillian tossed the Levin Sword back to the male tactician and pulled out a steel sword from thin air, allowing the man to attack those near him without wasting much time chanting his spell over and over again. Tossing a weapon to one another was also a sign that the woman was beginning to faze out if she fought any longer.

"Don't worry, Lilli, we're almost done. Just a few more. Stay back," Robin told her, blocking their way from her.

"It kicked in too early..." she groaned, staying away and holding her head a bit.

Willow silently came up from behind her and dragged her away.

"It's safer over here... We've cleared it up.." she said, walking over to Henry and those resting as well as being recovered.

Robin and Chrom eventually came over huffing tiredly- it seems that they were finished with business as well.

"Let's... rest..." Chrom panted. "Only for a little.."

* * *

 **Yeesh, sorry for not updating! D: Anyways, yep! Enjoy!**

 _ **~stormy003**_


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